Daily Life During The Reformation (30 page)

Berets came with or without ear flaps, but on the streets
many different kinds of hats could be seen. Poor people sometimes wore a stocking
on their heads. A fine suit of clothes could cost about 10 guilders; but a
worker earned only about one-third of a guilder per day. As people liked to
call attention to themselves, some would wear a spoon or comb on their hats, or
a badge representing, for instance, a pilgrimage, such as the scallop shell of
Saint James. Some badges had pornographic symbols on them.

Peasants wore similar but more old-fashioned clothes. The
doublet came with or without sleeves. A pair of stockings, some with leather for
the foot, stretching to the waist, took the place of pants, and the shirt again
was tucked between the legs and covered by an overgarment. There were few or no
pockets, so a belt was worn with hooks to hang things on. Knives were carried
behind; their dimensions were set by the village or city council. Young boys
made their own daggers out of wood, and these could be of any length. A sword,
worn on the left side, was almost mandatory for going out at night into the
unlit streets.

Women

Women also slept in a long nightshirt with the head
covered; and the same shirt was used as an undergarment during the day.
Stockings were fastened by garters; and an under bodice, closed with a lace in
front, was separate from the skirt. From around the neck a scarf hung down to
the waist where it was tucked under the bodice. Decorative colored sleeves were
then pulled up over the sleeves of the shirt and pinned to the straps of the
under bodice. Hair was generally braided and a cap worn over it. Sometimes a
hat was worn on top of the hood of a cloak made from worsted cloth. Some had a
peak extending over the forehead.

Slippers were worn in the house, but a leather buckled shoe
was used out of doors. Party shoes could be of velvet and have embroidered
slits.

Upper Class Women

An upper class woman generally wore a black headdress with
gold trim and a gold necklace. Her upper garment was crimson and silver with
blue-gray edges and gray fur might be found along the bottom and lining the
armholes. A white veil would have had a lot of gold relief-work on it.

Jewelry included fancy hook fasteners for cloaks; spiral
rings often had proverbs engraved on them and were worn on the third finger of
the left hand (called the gold finger). An engagement ring usually had two
clasped hands on it.

Children

Children looked like small adults, dressed in the same
manner as their parents. A boy might wear flat shoes and doublet made of
leather. When outside, he wore a jacket or coat with a full skirt to it. A girl
wore a kerchief on her head (except on Sundays or holidays when she wore a
cap), and a long nightshirt for underwear during the day.

CHANGES IN THE MID-SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Throughout Europe, men’s jackets became shorter, and shirts
bloused beneath them as well as the sleeves below those of the jacket. A
camisole was worn underneath to keep out the cold. A coat, buttoned and
reaching the knees, had shorter sleeves. Heads were shaved to accommodate the
full, long wig; and collars grew smaller. From Holland came the tubular
breeches, and often lace ruffles were worn just below the knees. Later,
ornamented petticoat breeches of various styles were used; but after the 1570s,
these only survived in the livery of footmen.

Later in this period, small jeweled buckles appeared on the
square-toed shoes. As boots went out of fashion, jeweled buckles grew larger.
Men’s clothing became more and more elegant and included sashes with fringes,
lace, and tassels. Handkerchiefs were draped from shirt pockets. Snuffboxes and
ornamented walking sticks were carried as well as muffs. Cravats had strings of
lace tied under the chin.

Women’s clothes were gradually changing, too. The bodice,
worn over a corset, was getting tighter, and the low neck decorated with a deep
falling collar was introduced by Anne of Austria. Collars and cuffs had
embroidery or lace edgings. Reaching the floor, full skirts were worn over
bell-shaped hoops, and they frequently opened in front to reveal other skirts
of different colors. They were often looped toward the back. Accessories also
became more flamboyant and included multicolored ribbons, striped and
hand-painted fabrics, much lace, especially on the sleeves, and even trains,
which were carried over the left arm (except in the presence of royalty when
they were left to trail on the floor).

Feminine hairstyles had the sides cut short, reaching the
shoulders in ringlets, and short, wired curls called “heartbreakers” over the
forehead. The rest of the hair was knotted at the back.

Shoes made of brocade, satin, and soft leather were pointed
and had high heels. Buckles were jeweled and rosettes continued to ornament
them. White or pale-colored gloves were elbow length; and fans made entirely of
lace were in vogue along with fringed parasols, pearl necklaces, and other
jewelry covered with diamonds and other stones. Artificial jewelry and the
abundant use of extravagant buttons also became very popular.

13 - THE MILITARY

MERCENARIES

European
armies were normally manned by two classes: the aristocracy who bought their
officers’ commissions and the enlisted men who came from the unemployed and
poor sections of society who joined the army in return for food, a little
money, and most important of all, the opportunity to plunder.

There were also men from the middle class, and even the
petty nobility, who as the second, third, or fourth child in the family had no
chance of inheritance and joined the army to seek their fortunes.

Throughout the early modern period mercenaries formed a
significant part of any European military force. Professional armies needed to
be equipped and paid full time during peace or war and hence were expensive to
maintain. Mercenaries, on the other hand, could be disbanded after a war.
Battle between nations could turn out to be one between two different groups of
soldiers of fortune.

When countries or states went to war, mercenaries were
recruited by a captain who received funds to outfit a company and find
conscripts from town, country, and sometimes even prisons, usually landless
young men with no established trade. In the main, a soldier had to supply
himself with clothes, arms, and food. These things could be obtained by
pillaging or from military entrepreneurs for a price.

Commissions were a kind of subsidy for the officers who
were naturally hostile to opportunities for military advancement offered to the
lower classes. Their pay was not great, but they benefited often by paying their
men as little as possible and by collecting the pay of the dead or of deserters
for their own pockets. Officers could sometimes extract ransoms for captives
and keep the money for themselves. Many impecunious, younger sons of the
nobility, unable to buy commissions, enlisted as simple men-at-arms or infantry
men with the hope of making their fortunes; although the richest ransoms and
best plunder went to the officers.

Armies made up of mercenary companies had their own
specializations: eastern Europeans were used as light horse; Scots and Gascons
were often employed in the infantry; pike companies were the national industry
of the Swiss; and from the German states came both Landsknechts and cavalry pistoleers.
Patriotism was not a consideration for most men unless they were fighting for
their own town.

The quintessential fighting men of Europe belonged to
Spain, which is thought to have been the first modern European country to have
a standing army in the sixteenth century. The successful tercio, a large
infantry regiment, contained pikes, some sword-and-buckler men (at least
earlier in the century), and light firearms. Spain recruited these men and kept
them prepared through part-time military training. After fighting in the
campaigns in Italy and the Netherlands, they became a formidable enemy,
confident and experienced, and with a high esprit de corps.

It was always a problem for governments to raise money and
to get it to where it was needed in order to pay the troops. When pay was
irregular, discipline became lax, and mercenaries of all nationalities would
desert when it fell too far in arrears. Frustration about money and the
wretched circumstances under which they conducted long sieges, could lead to
the worst repercussions, as in the sack of Antwerp in 1576 by out-of-control
soldiers. When the army disbanded, the countryside was flooded with unemployed,
often socially maladjusted armed men. Between the French civil wars of
religion, brigandage was rampant.

Landsknects and Swiss Pike Men

Among the best paid mercenary soldiers were the
Landsknects, primarily of German origin, from all parts of the empire. These
soldiers of fortune were recruited at public fairs, in inns and taverns, or in
a village square where the recruiting officer offered them a contract to fight
for the duration of a particular war in progress. Often, the new conscript had
no idea who he would fight for or where, but promises of pay and booty were
strong inducements to sign up. Mercenary troops fought in all the major
engagements in Europe during the sixteenth century and up to and beyond the
Thirty Years’ War. At times they fought against the Turks when the latter made
incursions into the frontier lands separating the Holy Roman and Turkish
Empires.

The regiments were flexible and could vary in size from
several hundred to a force of thousands depending on the campaign and the
financier, money was the crucial factor. The lord who had the most resources
could recruit the most soldiers. They wended their way across the countryside
walking, riding, or traveling in carts helping themselves to whatever they
wanted when en route to their destinations.

Maximilian I gave the Landsknechts the privilege to wear
whatever colors and clothing they desired. This translated into a colorful
force of troops, garishly dressed, with large feathered hats.

The development of the Swiss pike square ended the
dominance of the mounted knight. Armed with 18-foot pikes, aligned in a square
formation, disciplined pike men could bring a cavalry charge to a quick end.
For a time, they were considered essential to a sixteenth-century army. Such
regiments came from the Swiss cantons making up the bulk of the French army’s
infantry as well as those of the Italian city states. When they were not on
good terms with the Swiss, the kings of France used the Landsknects as did
other countries. Raised from coreligionists in Germany, the Landsknechts formed
a large component of the Huguenot armies; but the proven battlefield
capabilities of the Swiss with the pike made them the most sought-after
mercenary troops in Europe.

As technology improved, and firearms and artillery became
more efficient; however, the Swiss pike men lost their advantage in battle.

Scots

A large proportion of Scots, fleeing from the law or
seeking fame and fortune, earned a living as soldiers in the service of every
dynasty in Western Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and
especially during the Thirty Years’ War of 1618–1648. In addition, the armies
of France, Holland, and Sweden all benefited from their many outstanding
commanders who came, sometimes accompanied by complete regiments that served
with distinction.

The Scottish mercenaries’ weapon of choice was the
six-foot-long two-handed sword known as the Slaughter Sword, which proved to be
more than a match for any adversary.

Reivers

Families or clans, living along the border of Scotland and
England known as Reivers, raided both sides of the marches with impartiality.
They came from every social class; they were guerillas, rustlers, and fighters
whose exploits were legendary for their violence and destruction. Their
lawlessness was fostered by a tribal system, rather than English versus Scots,
and neither government was able to control them.

After centuries of feuding and attacking, they had evolved
into fine soldiers and expert riders, taking their swift horses into skirmishes
or battle. The horses, in fact, were descendants of the Frisian horses brought
to Britain by the Romans. These shaggy animals developed into hardy ponies,
called hobbys, who needed little attention, survived by eating anything, and
who were equipped with amazing stamina. In addition they were very sure-footed
and could manage well in the difficult, boggy terrain around the border.

The Reivers served as mercenaries in both the English and
the Scottish armies, sometimes forced to do so under threat of death to their
families. Thus, although hated in times of peace, their services were avidly
sought in war. In 1540, the Border Horse regiment was recruited by the English
under Henry VIII, who considered them to be the best light cavalry in all of
Europe.

Their behavior, however, left much to be desired. Often
they robbed and looted, claiming to be Scottish or English as it suited them.
Frequently, they refused to obey orders, and no one really knew how trustworthy
they were. There is a story that during at least one battle, it was seen that
the Scottish and English Reivers only pretended to fight one another, but were
ready to change sides to ascertain they ended up on the winning side.